Culture-starter-mailing packet and method for making the same.



B. BARLOW.

CULTURE STARTER MAILING PACKET AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE. SAME.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15. 1914.

1 1 60,8 1 8, Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

A TTORIVEYS rrn are ran rip.

:snonson BARLowQor onrorieo, ILLINOIS.

CULTUREwsTARTERdVffflLING PACKET AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAMEMSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Application filed September 15,- 1914. Serial No. 861,795.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BRONSON BARLOW, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a newand Improved Culture Starter Mailing Packet and Method forMaking the Same, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to pure-culture starters, and has reference moreparticularly to a culture starter for making butter and cheese.

The object of the invention is to provide a culture starter which iseasy and inexpensive to prepare, which is compact and therefore costslittle to transmit through the mail, and which combines in itself both aculture and simple and efficient means of propagation.

Culture carriers at present in use have no purpose further than tocontain and to pro tect the culture in transportation, While my carrierserves also as a safe and convenient instrument and means ofpropagation. The

sack which contains the culture is carried forward in the dailypropagation, and thus when pasteurized milk is used the center of puregrowth is transferred and not an 'average mixed sample as is the casewith starters at present in use. Living bacteria are present inpasteurized milk and they sometimes increase until a gassy starterresults or a starter which is off flavor. If this condition is notobserved and corrected promptly heavy loss may result. With my starterthis cannot happen so readily as with starters now in use, because thecenter of pure growth is transferred. The culture carriers now on themarket require a more costly outside wrapper, which is so large andheavy that the culture cannot be contained in an ordinary envelop. Myculture starter obviates the above defects, as the combined packagewhich it forms is so small, soft, pliable and light that several of suchpackages can be inclosed in an ordinary envelop, together with printedmatter and correspondence.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which like characters indicate correspondingparts in all the views and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the culture starter proper; Fig. 2 isa cross section thereof on line 2-2, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview showing the sealed sack to be Wrapped in sterilized paper Fig. 4 isa perspective view showing the sack wrapped and encompassed by the freeend of the thread and sealed; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the sealedpackage wrapped in a sterilized paper carrying the directions for use;and Fig. 6 is a sectional perspective view showing a mailing envelopcontainingtwo packages of" culture starters and some printed matter andcorrespondence.

The method of preparing the culture starter is as follows: The originalculture is isolated from milk, butter or cheese of excellent quality bymeans of poured plates, using the methods known in the science ofbacteriology. It is propagated in sterilized milk or any other favorableliquid medium. When growth has taken place the culture is mixed with oradded to some dry, sterile absorbent material 7 or to a mixture ofabsorbent materials, enough of the absorbent material being used to makethe package dry externally. The absorbent material may be saw-dust orcrushed grain, such as cornmeal or starch. The absorbent materialcontaining the culture is then placed into small, narrow sacks 8 formedfrom cloth, preferably cotton. These sacks are sterilized in dry heatand each is tied with a long thread 9, the major part 10 of which isleft free. The sterilized sack can first be filled with the absorbentmaterial and then the culture introduced thereinto by any suitablemeans. lVhen the culture is placed into the absorbent contained in thesack, care is taken that the culture should not wet the sack through theabsorbent. The filled sacks 8, with their ends sealed by the thread 9,are then wrapped or folded in a sterilized parchment paper 11 with theend 10 of the thread projecting out of the Wrapper. The projectingportion of the thread is made to encompass the wrapped sack 8, as shownbest in Fig. 4, and a seal 12 is applied over the thread and theparchment paper. The extremity of the thread is preferably left free sothat the seal can be easily broken by pulling on the end of the thread.The seal is preferably of wax. The so-sealed package of the parchmentpaper containing the sack which carries the culture is then inclosed ina sterilized sheet of printed directions 13 and an elastic band let madeto encompass the so-formed package. The whole package is then inclosedin 7 an outer or mailing envelop, which envelop 15 may contain also areturn envelop, an order sheet and a letter, and the gross weight willbeless than two ounces. In Fig. 6 the mailing envelop 15 contains twopackages as shown in Fig. 5, a return envelop l6, and

seal-.12 is broken, the thread will unwind from the parchment wrapper11,,and by continuing to pull on the string the culture sack iswithdrawn from its parchment wrapper 11 and will hang suspended on the.

thread. It can then be lowered into an ordinary pint or quart milkbottle of sterilized or pasteurized sweet milkand 'held at any Y desireddepth in the milk by placing a cotton plug in the mouth of the bottle.The bottle containing the milk and the'culture is then set in a warmplace. When the milk 7 sours and sets in a curd, the cotton plug is--removed and the pendant culture sack is lifted out and lowered into asecond similar bottle of sterilized sweet milk; and in this way theculture is propagated daily from bottle to bottle.

From the above description it will be seen that my culture starter costsless to manufacture than others and that it can be transmittedthroughthe mail as first-class mail matter, together with printeddirections and other correspondence, at a minimum charge for postage. Itis, further, a safe and instant means of transferring a culture. One hasmerely to lift it on its string from one 4 milk bottle and lower it intoanother, with- 'out having any contact with the culture A Copies of thispatent may be obtained for propagator itself. 7

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the advantage of my pure culture starter packageand the method of preparing the same will be readily understood by thoseskilled in the art to which the invention pertains, and while I havedescribed the method of preparation which I now consider tobe the bestembodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the disclosureis merely illustrative and that such changes may be made, if desired, asare within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In a culture starter, a cotton sack, a pure culture in the sack, athread sealing the sack with one end, a sterilized parchment wrapperinclosing the sack, the other .end of the thread projecting out of saidwrapper and adapted to encompass the wrapper inclosing the sack, meanssealing the thread to the wrapper, and a sterilized paper ofinstructions for using the starter inclosing the sealed parchmentwrapper.

2. In a culture-starter mailing package, a sack containing culture, athread sealing the sack, a. sterilized wrapper inclosing the sack, saidthread projecting out of the wrapper and encompassing the same, andmeans sealing the thread to the wrapper.

3. In a culture-starter mailing package, a culture carrier, a threadsecured to the carrier so that the carrier may be suspended by thethread, and a sealed, sterilized wrapper inclosing the carrier, with aportion of said thread projecting out of the wrapper.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

BRONSON BARLOW'.

Witnesses:

JOHN D. BRAIDWOOD, JAs. T. MALONE.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington.D. G.

